The Couch
by Consulting Mentalist
Summary: Yet another story about Jane's couch!  Lisbon doesn't know why Jane loves that couch so much and tries to figure out exactly why he does.  A short, cute Jisbon piece.


_Notes: One last story before school starts! I just want to mention that I actually have no idea where the couch is relative to Lisbon's desk, and if I got it wrong, just try and use some suspension of disbelief. Also, I have this newfound respect for everyone on here that writes for The Mentalist, Jane is hard to write! I think I have him a little out of character but it's my first Mentalist story, I can get away with it :)__. Finally, if you like The Mentalist, vote for it as your favourite crime show in the poll on my profile (it really isn't doing so well__). Enjoy and let me know what you thought!_

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A very tired Teresa Lisbon walked out of her office, and was surprised to find that she was alone. Every desk in the room was abandoned, which was odd for this particular time of the afternoon. Even Jane's brown leather couch did not show any signs of occupancy. Jane's couch. Of course, it wasn't _his_ couch; but if Jane was inside the CBI building, he was almost always on that couch. It was a fairly simple concept, but one thing always seemed to puzzle Agent Lisbon: _why _did he love that couch so much? Was it really as simple as its amount comfort or the silly stain on the ceiling above it? Double checking to make sure she was alone, Lisbon decided that this would be the perfect time to find an answer to her burning question. She hesitantly sat down in the middle of the couch; average comfort, but hardly enough to defend the persistent adoration which Jane showed for the couch. Lisbon next laid down and was struck by a surprisingly sweet smell. _"Well of course the couch would smell like Jane, he's always "sleeping" on it", _Lisbon she was breathing, the smell was filling her lungs, and seemingly her brain when exhaustion finally took over her body. Before Lisbon could think to do anything about it, she was fast asleep on Patrick Jane's couch, with his golden curls weaving in and out of her dreams.

Patrick Jane sauntered into his team's room of the CBI and headed over to his couch for a fake nap. He was caught off guard; however, by a very surprising sight (made even more surprising by the fact that Jane had actually been caught off guard). His boss was curled up on his couch, sleeping, with her smiling face very close to the brown fabric. Jane, being the constant troublemaker that he is, began to think of all the things he could get away with while Lisbon was asleep. His brain was suddenly full of pranks that he had been planning, not to mention a whole new set of pranks involving Lisbon waking up to… unusual circumstances. He wondered if she would wake up if the couch was moved, and how mad she would be if she woke up in... the men's washroom for example. Could he get her to talk in her sleep? How long would it take her to notice marker on her face? The longer he thought about these potential pranks, the more time he was spending watching Lisbon sleep; and the more time he spent watching Lisbon sleep, the more he realized that happy sleeping Lisbon was much harder to torment than the usual irritated threatening Lisbon. Suddenly all of his pranks seemed uncalled for; how could anybody be so cruel as to disrupt the calm and innocent sight in front of him?

With his resolve now completely diminished by happy sleeping Lisbon, Jane decided he should just wake her up before the rest of the team came back. _"She'll probably be embarrassed enough just by the fact that I found her here", _he thought_; _as long as he got to see her blush, he was okay with no pranks (this time).

"Lisbon!" he said quietly. No response. "Lisbon!" he said again, this time poking her arm. She stirred a little, but still refused to wake up. He grabbed her arm and gave her a little shake, "Lisbon, wake up."

"Jane?" she asked very quietly. _"Finally waking up..." _She reached up and began to stroke Jane's hand, which was still resting on her arm. "…_or not." _As tempting as it was for Jane to make Lisbon keep talking (not to mention touching his hand), he knew Lisbon would not appreciate the resulting rumours if anybody were to walk in the room at this moment. Also, that scenario could possibly result in his hospitalization.

"Teresa!" he shouted. She jumped awake and turned around to look at Jane, blushing as she realized the subject of her last dream was sitting right in front of her. Then there they were, gazing longingly into each other's eyes…

For all of about three seconds; the time it took for them to remember that it was not appropriate for them to gaze longingly in to each other's eyes while holding hands in the workplace, and to try to convince themselves that they didn't want to in the first place. They let go of each other's hands and Lisbon looked around awkwardly while Jane kept his eyes on her. Lisbon, still embarrassed, stood up and proceeded to return to her office.

"Hold on," said Jane, "not so fast." Lisbon turned around wordlessly to look at him, or more accurately, the floor in front of him. "Why were you sleeping on my couch?" he asked, smiling.

"I- umm… I was just…" Lisbon paused, considering that there was no point in lying to Jane and that he wouldn't leave her alone until he got the truth anyway. "I was just trying to find out why you liked the couch so much."

"And what did you find?"

"Nothing."

"Ah." Jane simply kept on smiling, ignoring that Lisbon was obviously waiting for an answer. She gave up and returned to her office, making a point of closing her door; and Jane took his usual position on the couch.

Of course Lisbon would never understand his attachment to it; after all there was no way she would ever be able to see the perfect view of herself at her desk which was so easily obtained from lying on the couch.


End file.
